“To make a lamb of windy March, spend some time in gentle endeavours.”
From the March, 1995, issue of Victoria Magazine

I have decided that I will postpone any thoughts of trying to tame the March winds until it is closer to the end of the month. Last evening we saw the forecast for this week and part of next week. Much of the time the temps will be well below average and there will be snow and snow showers.

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During February school vacation week, we waited until Friday to do something special. Hubby, daughter Sue, and I drove out that morning to Attleboro where there is a huge Kmart. It is a little tricky to get into that mall; we even had to go under a bridge. When we were out there during Christmas Week, we saw that there was a brand new Market Basket Store in the mall area. We love the Market Basket Store near the Sagamore Bridge with its great prices. As we drove by the store in Attleboro, we could see that there was nothing inside the store. I asked one of the workers in Kmart if she knew when the Market Basket would open. She told me that she wasn’t sure. The DeMoulas Family, which owns Market Basket, is fighting among themselves on how high to set the prices of items sold in the store. They have not agreed so the store still is not open two months after the it was completed.

Of course, while we were out in the Attleboro area, we had to make sure that the Cracker Barrel Restaurant near the Wrentham Outlets was alive and well. We spent at least 20 minutes wandering through the gift shop there. They have such lovely items for sale, like the Willow Tree figurines. This time I restrained myself and just bought a greeting card. We then went into the restaurant area and were quickly seated. (We had timed it so that we would be seated before noon, when the crowd comes.) The lunches were quite reasonable and delicious. By the way, if you would like breakfast, you may order it all day at Cracker Barrel.

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I was sorry to read, in the Herald, of the death of Robert “Bobby” Greene, unexpectedly, on Feb. 17. Bobby was the son of Barbara (Ryan) Greene and the late James Greene Sr. Bobby’s Mom Barbara is the twin sister of a Boston State classmate of Hubby and me, Betty (Ryan) Jackson, so we have been friends for quite a few years. I know that Bobby was an employee of the Dutch Maid Cookie Company for 26 years. Bobby leaves his Mom, his sisters, Judy Greeley (secretary at St. Mark’s Parish), Donna Watts, and the late Patricia, Virginia, and brothers James Jr., and Thomas. I have become quite friendly with Judy, who helps me so often with questions about the dates and times of Holy Day events so that I may put them in this newspaper. Thank goodness for her help. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that remembrances be made to Dorchester Special Athletes or St. Mark’s Parish.

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It was so good to hear from Maureen Costello Shea through my Facebook account last weekend. Maureen wrote to tell me that Fr. Michael “Miguel” Sheehan, who last week assisted us at church in explaining the duties of the greeter, the usher, the lector, and the eucharistic minister at Mass is the nephew of the late Dick Sheehan. Dick and his wife, the late Irma Sheehan, were mainstays in the Pope’s Hill area for many years. Dick was very active in the Knights of Columbus and also served as president of the K Club. Irma was his “right-hand man” in helping him serve the club. I was fortunate to have Irma as my roommate when I was at the Bostonian Nursing Home while recovering from knee-replacement surgery. I am sorry that I did not know that Fr. Michael was Dick’s nephew. He and I could have had a lovely chat about Dick and Irma. They were wonderful people.

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I am playing catch-up: On Sunday, Feb. 2, Hubby, daughter Sue, and I drove to the Quincy Elks’ Club to celebrate the Super Bowl for the first time outside our own home. Eileen Collins, the person who invited us, was the one who welcomed us to the Elks. We sat at a long, beautiful table, right in front of a large, gorgeous TV set. We were joined by Norma Conley, Irene Anderson, Marilyn Ferrara, Evie Dunne, Phyllis Hartford, Linda Flaherty, and Gwen Adams, in addition to Eileen. The Elks’ building was beautiful. We sat one table over from a wonderful fireplace on that cold afternoon. On either side of the fireplace was a magnificent high-backed chair that looked like something out of a British castle. One of our members sat in the chair and looked like a queen. We must get a photo of each of our group sitting in either of those two chairs. Drinks were very reasonable. The waitresses even gave us pitchers of Diet Coke. Just about half time, the waitresses began bringing out the food. We dined on meatballs, chili, and even chicken, broccoli, and ziti. We also had sausages with peppers and onions. All the food was excellent and there was plenty of it. Our friend Irene Anderson discovered that one of the waitresses, Kathy Dakon, was her relation. Sue and I went up to get pitchers of Diet Coke and discovered that another of the waitresses, Helen Panico, was the granddaughter of a dear friend of our family, Helen Bradley. Helen is even named for her grandmother. We had a great chat with Helen. She took photos of the three of us so that she could show them to Grandma Helen, who is now in a nursing home.

It was a riot watching some of the other people watching the game. Almost everyone in the large room was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks, who took an early lead over the Denver Broncos and never looked back. One man at the table in front of us was the only Broncos fan we could see. He groaned and moaned each time the Seahawks scored. Toward the end of the game, he took up hiding under his huge table. He did not have a good day. All the rest of us really enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday. We had a great day chatting with our friends and eating the great food. Only one thing could have made the day better: If only the Patriots had been playing that night.

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As I mentioned last week, those who serve as greeters, ushers, lectors, and eucharistic ministers were asked recently to come to St. Christopher Church to go over their duties. Last week, I spoke about the greeters and ushers. We then began to talk about the duties of the lectors. Daughter Sue, who is a lector, kept notes on all four duties so she made my writing this easy. Our group asked that the lector tell the number of the page that is being read. That is somewhat difficult because the lector reads from the big lectionary at the pulpit, not from the missals that the parishioners are reading. The lector is in the processional and walks directly in front of the priest to the altar. The lector carries the lectionary to the pulpit, holding it high while walking. (Sue was able to carry it somewhat in the air, even with the healing bone in her elbow. The lector also checks to make sure the microphone can be heard by all the parishioners. Finally the lector should announce the Word loud and clear. There will just a little about the eucharistic minister in next week’s column. A few years ago, Daughter Sue served as a lector at a funeral Mass. She did a great job, as usual, because she was well used to being a lector. When she arrived at the back of the church, one of the undertakers came over and told her that she had a great voice for a lector. She was somewhat stunned at the compliment and thanked him very much when she regained her composure.

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I loved this saying: “Starting tomorrow on a project means today is wasted.” That’s so true.